MSc

The recent dramatic growth of the economy, as well as consumer consumption and
behaviour patterns around the world are the primary causes of environmental degradation.
Awareness about environmental degradation has resulted in increasing ecological
consciousness and desire to purchase green products. Since the environment is continuously
moving towards the worst, it has become a persistent public concern in the developed
countries and has recently awakened developing countries to the eco-friendly movement.
Green marketing puts major emphasis on satisfying the needs of consumers without
deteriorating the environment. This holistic approach of producing, promoting, distributing,
consuming, and disposing of the products/services ensures that the damage made to the
environment is minimal. Many consumers prefer green products that cause no harm to the
environment. Even though business strategies and government policies exist, people are not
very aware of green products. So there is a need to study the effect of green marketing on
consumer purchase behaviour. The study will be helpful to green marketers and policy makers
to understand the impact of existing green marketing tools on green consumer behaviour
thereby able to make appropriate modification in the promotion of green product consumption
among consumers.
The present study entitled, “Impact of green marketing on consumer purchase
behaviour,” aim to analyse the purchase behaviour towards green products, identify the
determinants of green purchase behaviour of consumers and assess the impact of green
marketing on green purchase behaviour. For the purpose of primary data collection,
respondents were selected from Kochi Corporation area (100)and Mulanthuruthy panchayat
(100) of Ernakulam district of Kerala. Those who used atleast one green product with an ecolabel were purposively selected. Primary survey was conducted through a prestructed
interview schedule. Secondary data were collected from websites, government reports, and
publications.The collected data were analysed by using statistical tools like percentage
analysis, indices, Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test of independence, Rank order scale,
Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, Factor analysis, and Regression analysis, descriptive
analysis, Kolmogorov Smirnov test, Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation coefficient.
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The analysis of purchase behaviour of the green products revealed that majority of
respondents (72%) gave first preference to the green products and all the respondents were
following green protocol. Word-of-mouth communication (77.5%), followed by internet and
print media were the major source of awareness about green products. The respondents in
the corporation area were aware of green products more through the internet compared to
the respondents in grama panchayat. Majority of the total respondents (52%) made only
limited search to find information about green products prior to making a purchase.
Regarding the decision maker in the family, both husband and wife took (31%) decision
together followed by wife and husband alone. Among different category of green products,
food products (59.5%) were purchased by majority of the respondents. Most of the
respondents in grama panchayat depended on retailers (57%), but in corporation area
respondents were more interested to purchase products through online platform. Willing to
pay to 5-10 percentage extra price for it. Most of the respondents were purchasing green
products whenever needed (46.5%) and made payments through cash. Majority of the
respondents started using green products between 1-3 years (47.5). The chi square test
showed that there were an association between the purchase behaviour with age, monthly
income and monthly expenditure of the consumers.
Regarding the awareness towards green products, all the respondents in grama
panchayat and corporation area were aware about food products and majority were aware
about solar panels. Brand awareness of the green food products was less than 10 percent
among them. Organic Tattva were one of the brands which is more popular compared to
other brands. All the respondents of Ernakulam district showed a good level of awareness
about the quality of green products and its benefits and revealed poor level of awareness
about the different identification marks used in green products. Mann- Whitney U Test
revealed that there were difference between panchayat and corporation with respect to brand
awareness, identifiers, different online platforms and green product selling companies that
prioritise green distribution practices.
The study further revealed that, all the respondents perceived green products had a
premium price. They disagreed with affordability and availability of wide ranges of green
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products. Mann- Whitney U Test revealed that there was significant difference in the
perception with respect of affordability, no side effects, green promotions, demand over nongreen product, availability of wide range of green products among grama panchayat and
corporation area. All the respondents showed favourable attitude towards the attribute of
green product to conserve the environment and but showed highly unfavourable attitude
towards the statement that production process is eco-friendly. Mann-Whitney U Test shows
the difference between the attitude of the consumer towards green products in grama
panchayat and corporation area with various statements like consumers agreed to pay even
extra price for eco-friendly products to save our environment (p=.000), claims of green
products about health interests are usually exaggerated (p=.004), doubtful about the
performance of green products (p=.000), Manufacturing/Production of green products is
eco-friendly (p=.001) is less than 0.05.
Majority of respondents were satisfied after using green products and said they would
recommend green products to others. The major constraint faced by the respondents that the
labels of green products are not informative.
The factor analysis highlighted that eco consumer insight, concern towards nature
and green product value perspective are the major determinants of green purchase behaviour.
Further the study also revealed that respondents in grama panchayat influenced by three
factors like eco consumer insight, concern towards nature and green product value
perspective. Whereas the factors like concern towards nature, government intervention,
green product value perceptive and green promotion were acting as the major determinants
of green purchase behaviour in the corporation area.
The green marketing tools like green product, green awareness, green distribution,
and green government policy had an impact on green purchase behaviour. Whereas green
price and green promotion have no significant impact on green purchase behaviour.
The study revealed the green purchase behaviour of the consumers, its determining
factors and the impact of green marketing on green purchase behaviour. There is increasing
awareness about green products, especially about the green food products, cosmetics and
solar panels among the selected consumers. However the brand awareness was very poor
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among them. The marketers and policymakers need to consider the factors like eco consumer
insight, concern towards nature, green product value perspective, green promotion for
popularising and increasing the sale of green products. The green marketing tools like green
product, green awareness, green distribution, and green government policy have impact on
the purchase behaviour, which emphasise the need for effective marketing strategies to
promote the green products. Moreover there is need for the production and promotion of
green products of different categories. Through government initiatives and by extensive
promotion of green products, environmental degradation can be brought to the minimal
level.